The Movie:
(film portion of the review taken from review of prior DVD release.)

If one sport has consisently turned out great on the big screen, it would have to be baseball. "Field Of Dreams", "The Natural", "A League Of Their Own" and even the recent Kevin Costner picture "For Love of the Game" (ok, so "For Love" was only occasionally entertaining). There's something about the great American pastime that can really be visually satisfying and memorable - the deep greens of a newly cut field of grass, the crack of the bat, the cheers of the crowd. There's also the $30.00 tickets, $5.00 hot dog, $8.00 parking and $3.00 soda - but we won't go into that. Films like "The Natural" can remind us when the sport was good and pure, and didn't cost a ton of cash to watch.

Robert Redford stars as Roy Hobbs, a prime baseball talent mostly sidelined after a tragic incident. Years later, he finds himself back in the big-time looked over by an angry, losing coach (Wilford Brimley). With a bat made from a tree struck by lightning, the older gentleman who walked onto the field proceeds to take the major leagues by storm.

Although "The Natural" isn't without a few things I would have fixed (the film's 138 minute running time is about 15 minutes too long), there's such a great deal to enjoy. The film is set-up as a bit of a sports "fairy tale", but rarely takes it too far away from reality, keeping events inspiring and engaging as we follow Roy as he attempts to be the best that he can be no matter what the odds. Deschanel's golden cinematography is nothing short of fantastic, and is a shining example of how excellent his work is.

The two pieces of the puzzle that stand-out among everything else though, are both Redford's excellent performance as well as Randy Newman's triumphant score, as engaging when subtle as when at its most intense. It's not flawless, but even years later, "The Natural" still remains a winner.

Director Barry Levinson notes in the introduction on this DVD that he was not able to structure the first act to his satisfaction, due to time constraints in post-production. This "director's cut" of the movie is really a director's cut, as Levinson has sat down to finally make the movie the way that he originally saw it. The result is that some scenes have been compressed/re-edited and that about 20 minutes of new footage is added. However, the difference in running time is only 6 minutes longer this time around.